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The Killer Angels: A Novel of the Civil War

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I Am Pilgrim: A Thriller

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The Gold Coast

Welcome to the fabled Gold Coast, that stretch on the North Shore of Long Island that once held the greatest concentration of wealth and power in America. Here two men are destined for an explosive collision: John Sutter, Wall Street lawyer, holding fast to a fading aristocratic legacy; and Frank Bellarosa, the Mafia don who seizes his piece of the staid and unprepared Gold Coast like a latter-day barbarian chief and draws Sutter and his regally beautiful wife, Susan, into his violent world.

Last Man Standing

With vividly realized characters and a breathtaking pace, Last Man Standing is another spellbinding title from David Baldacci, best selling author of Wish You Well. When the FBI Hostage Rescue Team is ambushed, it is up to sole survivor Web London to find the killer.

The King of Lies

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The Blood of Flowers

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Never Let Me Go

From the Booker Prize-winning author of The Remains of the Day and When We Were Orphans, comes an unforgettable edge-of-your-seat mystery that is at once heartbreakingly tender and morally courageous about what it means to be human.

Alas, Babylon

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We Are Not Ourselves

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Freedom: A Novel

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Tallgrass

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Transfer of Power: Mitch Rapp Series

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Code Name Verity

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The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace: A Brilliant Young Man Who Left Newark for the Ivy League

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Three Junes

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Fever: A Novel

Mary Mallon was a courageous, headstrong Irish immigrant woman who bravely came to America alone, fought hard to climb up from the lowest rung of the domestic service ladder, and discovered in herself an uncanny, and coveted, talent for cooking. Working in the kitchens of the upper class, she left a trail of disease in her wake, until one enterprising and ruthless "medical engineer" proposed the inconceivable notion of the "asymptomatic carrier" - and from then on Mary Mallon was a hunted woman.

The Firebird

Nicola Marter was born with a gift. When she touches an object, she sometimes glimpses those who have owned it before. When a woman arrives with a small wooden carving at the gallery Nicola works at, she can see the object’s history and knows that it was named after the Firebird - the mythical creature from an old Russian fable. Compelled to know more, Nicola follows a young girl named Anna who leads her into the past on a quest through the glittering backdrops of the Jacobites and Russian courts, unearthing a tale of love, courage, and redemption.

The Thirteenth Tale: A Novel

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A Thousand Splendid Suns

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Wait for Signs

Ten years ago, Craig Johnson wrote his first short story, the Hillerman Award-winning "Old Indian Trick". This was one of the earliest appearances of the sheriff who would go on to star in Johnson’s best-selling, award-winning novels and the A&E hit series Longmire. Each Christmas Eve thereafter, fans rejoiced when Johnson sent out a new short story featuring an episode in Walt’s life that doesn’t appear in the novels; over the years, many have asked why they can’t buy the stories in book form.

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Lock In (Narrated by Amber Benson)

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The Brooklyn Follies

Nathan Glass has come to Brooklyn to die. Divorced, estranged from his only daughter, the retired life insurance salesman seeks only solitude and anonymity. Then Nathan finds his long-lost nephew, Tom Wood, working in a local bookstore, a far cry from the brilliant academic career he'd begun when Nathan saw him last. Tom's boss is the charismatic Harry Brightman, whom fate has also brought to the "ancient kingdom of Brooklyn, New York".

Flowers for Algernon

Charlie Gordon knows that he isn't very bright. At 32, he mops floors in a bakery and earns just enough to get by. Three evenings a week, he studies at a center for mentally challenged adults. But all of this is about to change for Charlie. As part of a daring experiment, doctors are going to perform surgery on Charlie's brain. They hope the operation and special medication will increase his intelligence, just as it has for the laboratory mouse, Algernon.

Publisher's Summary

Audie Award Finalist, Literary Fiction, 2014

Part epic of Texas, part classic coming-of-age story, part unflinching portrait of the bloody price of power, The Son is an utterly transporting novel that maps the legacy of violence in the American West through the lives of the McCulloughs, an ambitious family as resilient and dangerous as the land they claim.

Spring, 1849: Eli McCullough is 13 years old when a marauding band of Comanches takes him captive. Brave and clever, Eli quickly adapts to life among the Comanches, learning their ways and waging war against their enemies, including white men - which complicates his sense of loyalty and understanding of who he is. But when disease, starvation, and overwhelming numbers of armed Americans decimate the tribe, Eli finds himself alone. Neither white nor Indian, civilized nor fully wild, he must carve a place for himself in a world in which he does not fully belong - a journey of adventure, tragedy, hardship, grit, and luck that reverberates in the lives of his progeny.

I just looked over the other reviews of this book and I am struck by how many people loved it, just a couple of reviewers had the same experience that I did. I was caught up right away by the story, thought it was going to be great and ordered a paper copy for a friend. I should have waited. Perhaps reading it wouldn't be as bad as listening to the reader who told the story from Peter's perspective. Whine whine whine! Even during the time in his life when he is supposedly happy he sounds whiney. I had hoped for a story more about Texas and less about relationships in this family. It seemed to me frequently to be written not from the actual history, but more from a politically correct point of view currently in fashion. This is not great literature or great performance, think twice before using your credit on this book.

Eli McCullough - Will Patton is the best. But even he couldn't save this for me.

Could you see The Son being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

No....Dullsville, Ohio.

Any additional comments?

I really didn't like this. The author was obviously attempting to write part paean, part elegy for The American Empire - its roots and decline, but it just ended up hitting you over the head with this in a rather unsubtle way. For instance - the Comanche Chief with Gibbons Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire as the stuffing for his shield.In the end I didn't care. The characters, with the exception of Peter, left me cold. There were no redeeming characteristics with which I could identify......

The male narrators were great, especially Patton, of whom I am a big fan.

I like her as an actress, but Mulgrew's voice really grates on the ears. I get that it suits Jeanne McCullough, but it is hard to listen to.

This took me ages to get through because I really didn't look forward to putting it back on the player....that's not usual for me.

Yes. I love listening to Will Patton. I search for his books. The other narrators of this book were excellent as well. There are some accents of narrators that I can't tolerate. These all were soothing to me and suited me just fine.

What did you like best about this story?

I loved it all. I love the way this book is written. The author is amazing and I will look for other works by him. I loved hearing about the indians and their way of life.

Which character – as performed by the narrators – was your favorite?

Eli was my favorite. I just love Will Patton's voice. He makes his characters come alive. He narrates at a good speed for me. Not too slow and not too fast. He is not just reading. He is in character,.

Potential for a good book. However the book wanders and the characters, which you hope will intertwine in the end, never do and it seems like a long book with little point. The author tries to create a literature that was made for the ages. But the trying seems forced and feels at the end.

The best part was the sincere & genuine research & history of Texas. This historical fiction was certainly worth wading through the borderline gloomy tone & emotions this story conjured. I totally enjoyed it, but I am melancholy over both the tones of the narrator's (dead on) voices and the story line. It's a heart 'drooping' . . . saga.

What did you like best about this story?

Learning so much about the early history of Texas.

Any additional comments?

I would like a geneology of this family - the way the story was told it was to hard follow the family tree . . .

There are two different layers that are key to understand and appreciate this book .First there is the individual story told by, a chapter at a time, three members of the McCulloughs family. They are Eli (the colonel) 1836 - 1936; his son Peter (born 1870); Peter's granddaughter Jeannie (born 1926). The second layer –and the very strong background to the individual narratives- is the big picture of Texas , its mindset , lifestyle , business and society. The book is ambitious and powerful in its language and striking by its atmosphere, but left me uninvolved and a bit disappointed.The book is chopped up mercilessly into the three life stories of which only the first one (that deals with young Eli growing up as Indian captive and then –back to “civilization”(?)- ranching and building an empire) is very interesting and moving, particularly when describes the life in the Comanche village. The other two main characters are far less engaging: Peter is depressed, self-absorbed and unwilling to stand up to his father, while Jeannie is the kind of person incapable to generate any sort of empathy (readers included). I guess the message of the book is everyone who has ever "owned" the land stole it from whoever has it last. This is ok, but did it need to take 18 hours –and little fun- to say it ?

The performance was superb! The story is very powerful in its scope and impact. However, at times I was puzzled about how the narrative moved the story forward as it jumped from character to character. I assume the written book has a family tree as a reference. Despite my occasional difficulty following the story, it came together well at the end.

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